Govt wants safety probe
The Malay Mail 3/8/2005

The Selangor Government is expecting a report soon from the Petaling Jaya Municipal Council (MPPJ) on the drowning of eight-year-old Thio Yee Shen at a swimming pool in the Kelana Mah kota condominium last Saturday.

State executive councillor for local government, housing and squatters Datuk Mokhtar Dahalan said yesterday: “I have requested a full report from MPPJ and will also personally investigate why such an incident could happen in the private pool.”

He said the condo management should provide better safety facilities and maintain the swimming pool in good condition.

“The management should have checked the safety inside and outside of the pool before letting residents use it. This is also a reminder to other condominium management to put safety first,” said Mokhtar.

Kelana Jaya MP Loh Seng Kok, when contacted by The Malay Mail, said the condominium should have assigned a caretaker to monitor the pool conditions.

“This incident shows the need for lifeguards at private pools,” he said.

The Malay Mail contacted a swimming pool specialist, Aquality Pool Service, for an expert’s viewpoint. Its manager Loh Yoke Onn said the vents shown in the picture highlighted by The Malay Mail was meant for the pool drainage system (Yee Shen’s leg was apparently caught in one of the vents, or drainage holes).

“The vents are designed to drain the pool water. However it could also be used to pump in water to operate a water feature,’ said Yoke Onn who has 20 years’ experience in constructing swimming pools.

Yoke Onn said the Kelana Mahkota condo’s swimming pool is based on a deck-level overflow system, which means the water in the pool is always overflowing into the top drain of the pool deck and the water in the drain will flow back to the balancing tank located adjacent to the pool.

He said unless the vents are not used for draining or operating a water feature, the pumps should not be turned on as usually a pool has separate suction pipes from the balancing tank.

“Maybe the design of the smaller vent should be bigger and the grating should be further away for the suction pipe to reduce the suction power,” said Yoke Onn.

He said there are many possibilities of generating strong currents inside the pool, for instance, the suction pumps embedded close to the grating cover.

Yoke Onn reasoned that the small holes in the pool could also generate strong suction power as it pressurises water into the vents when the pumps operate.

“A larger surface area of the grating will mean lesser suction as the suction power is distributed to a larger area,” he said.

“Pool designers should ensure that there is no anti-vortex action when designing the main drain and have special suction vents for their water feature to prevent swimmer’s hair from being caught inside the vents. This could lead to drowning.”

The Kelana Mahkota condo’s swimming pool has a concave man- made rock design to create a waterfall feature at the poolside. It is learnt that the waterfall feature was in operation last Saturday evening when Yee Shen drowned.